Conquistadors of the Useless
From the Alps to Annapurna

I have a soft spot for climbing books - climbers (certainly those that write books) seem to have something of the poet about them and the activity of risking life and limb and enduring great suffering in places of magnificence of beauty seems to make, to me at least, for fascinating tales. This book......more

3,5 arrotondato per eccesso Prima parte con uno stile poco scorreve, ingessato, più da enciclopedia che da narrativa. Poi, dalla ripetizione della nord dell'Eiger, l'Himalaya, la Patagonia, diventa più sciolto e divertente. Non è uno scrittore e si sente, manca dell'autoironia e dell'arguzia di Simps......more

Terray is an unexpectedly excellent writer. Understood to be a much more honest and factual account of the first ascent of Annapurna than Herzog's. I enjoyed this book quite a bit.......more

Wonderful account of a true life spent in the mountains. Terray, while at first sounding up on his high horse, writes in a way that transcends his ego in an account of some truly remarkable feats. From WWII in the Alps, to the highest summits in the world, this book is not lacking in adventure! He t......more

1) If you read and liked Maurice Herzog's Annapurna: Lionel Terray is one of the other noted French climbers who did not summit with Herzog (Lawrence L. did). If you had no interest, don't waste your time reading my comment, you would be wasting your time. 2) Then I started climbing, I was aware that......more